#26 Acts Completed

Four days, twenty-six acts.
It was awesome!

A large part of me thinks I'm kind of selfish for being so enthusiastic about this- but honestly, I've actually felt better in the past few days than I ever usually do about things.  It's already so fantastic to me how this movement has already gained so much popularity across the U.S.A. When you constantly see how shitty this world is, it's nice to be reminded that there this still so much GOOD out there. I hate that it took a tragedy of this proportion to inspire such a trend, but hopefully, it'll leave some permanent changes in the hearts of those participating!

So with that said, here's my list of random acts of kindness completed. Hopefully it'll inspire some of y'all to do the same. I don't have the cash to hand out twenty-six different $5 gift cards so I tried to focus on making all of my acts really simple, small gestures that anyone can consciously do as long as they're cognizant of the people around them.

1. Carried a woman's stroller up the busted escalator steps at the LIRR station while she wrangled her other toddler up the stairs.
2. Went down to the main street to hail a cab for someone who was leaving the ER on crutches and brought it back to the patient so they wouldn't have to walk down a hill on crutches.
3. Taught my patient how to email from his new Samsung Galaxy while we waited for the Attending to come in.
4. Spent time with my good friends' grandmother after she'd taken a fall at home so that she wouldn't be alone.
5. Had a lengthy convo about med school with a guy and his mom who stopped me at the Indian grocery store because they saw my SGU tshirt. The kid was so embarrassed because his mom was being a typical Desi mom. It was endearing, but totally hysterical.
6. Brought in a bunch of WW snacks for the secretary at work who's been trying to lose weight but says she cant find any palatable snack food.
7. Made lemon bars for my mom since she didn't know what to do with all the lemons she'd bought.
8. Hefted a crate of water into an old guy's cart at Costco.
9. Sat and simply listened to an old and somewhat distant friend's recent troubles with life. I couldn't offer much in the way of advice, but he thanked me for being a good listener. Somehow he doesn't seem so distant anymore.
10. Donated $1 at the register at CVS to St. Jude's Children's hospital.
11. Wrote back to someone who emailed me through my blog to ask for advice about SGU. (Hi, A!)
12. Went through old suitcases in the basement and donated a bunch of clothes to charity.
13. Paid for a little kid's hot chocolate at Starbucks with my giftcard.
14. Spent time explaining thyroid physiology to a patient my age who was newly diagnosed with a thyroid disorder. (I only count this because I did this after the Attending spoke to her and she still look confused. I sat and drew pictures of feedback mechanisms while trying to explain it in laymen's terms...hopefully I was somewhat successful).
15. Downloaded an app on my patient's iPhone to help him track his blood sugars.
16. Called up my old neighbor who doesn't have any family and shot the breeze with her- she was so happy to hear from me and it was only a 10 minute conversation.
17. Put my books  back in their proper place on the shelves at the library...the librarians were completely shocked ("No one EVER does that!") but also grateful.
18. Burned CDs of Indian songs for my mom so that she'd have something to listen to on her drive home from work. This helps Dad too- if she's listening to songs, he doesn't have to listen to her! ;)
19. DVRed episodes of "I Love Lucy" for my rents since they love the show but are never around when it's on.
20. Cleaned the kitchen and got dinner ready for my parents when they got home late because of traffic.
21. Let the dad with two kids about to throw a tantrum go ahead of me in line at Target.
22. Bought a stuffed animal at Ikea to be donated to Cohen's Children's Hospital.
23. Held a young patient's hand while she was getting blood drawn (her mom got too queasy at the site of blood to be there).
24. Showed Dad how to program his favorite channels so that he doesn't miss any of his basketball games.
25. Anonymously left my Attending a bag of sugar-free candy since she claims she's a "wannabe diabetic."
26. Signed up to be a part of The World Needs More Letters, an awesome grass-roots campaign dedicated to sending letters of love, support, and encouragement to anyone who might need it. I urge you to check it out- whether it be to join the campaign or to request a "love letter" for someone in your life who might need some extra support right now.

Get on it guys! I promise it'll be one of the most fulfilling things you can do for yourself this holiday season. :)